


Monsters Are Always Hungry

by trashing-the-trashmouth (summerforbran)



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Everybody Lives, Found Family, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Self Acceptance, Trans Richie Tozier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:01:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24479128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerforbran/pseuds/trashing-the-trashmouth
Summary: Richie’s already barely keeping his career afloat, but a call disrupts the failing comedian’s life in a way he never thought possible. He never thought he’d end up in Derry again, but he can’t ignore the promise he made.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

Richie couldn’t say what had compelled him to answer the call from the unknown number. He vaguely knew that the area code came from Maine. Why he was so sure of that? He didn’t know. He didn’t know anybody in Maine anymore. His family had long since left, and in truth, Richie barely remembered any of his time living there. Any time he tried to think of his time there, it was as though a thick fog shrouded his memory, and for some reason he never even questioned it. He tried to convince himself that his family hadn’t stayed long enough for anything significant to happen to him. That was the only explanation that made sense to him, anyway. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he couldn’t ignore this call. Wordlessly, he hit “accept”.

“Richie Tozier? It’s Mike Hanlon.” Stated the voice on the other end. 

Richie’s brow furrowed. He knew that he’d somehow heard that name before, but he couldn’t place a face to it. “Look, dude. I have a show in less than ten minutes. I can’t talk right now.” Richie’s thumb hovered over the “end call” button, but he couldn’t bring himself to press it.

“Okay, I know you don’t remember me. Neither did Bill or Eddie.” Mike let out a sigh. “I wouldn’t have called you if it wasn’t important.”

Then something clicked in Richie’s mind. A small spark of recognition. “Holy fuck! _Home School_?”

Mike let out a laugh, though Richie wasn’t quite sure if it was a genuine laugh, or just one of relief. “Yeah, that’s what you used to call me,” he said. “It’s good to hear your voice, Rich.”

“Yeah… yours too. It’s been a long time.” Richie felt his stomach churn dangerously. “You said that you’re calling about something important?”

“You need to come back to Derry.” Mike’s voice was reluctant, but it was clear to Richie that he was sure of what he was saying. The last thing he wanted was to interrupt his friends’ lives. He wanted so badly to believe that they had finished the job when they were kids, but he couldn’t lie to himself, and convince himself that everything that was happening was a coincidence. They needed to stop it, _for good_. “You all have to come back. It’s time to make good on our promise.”

Richie’s stomach flipped again at the mention of Derry. “I don’t know anything about Derry,” he said lamely. A part of him knew that was a lie. “And what promise? Last I checked, making a pinky promise on the school playground wasn’t exactly a reason to drop everything.”

“It’s more than that, Richie! I need you here _tomorrow_.” Mike was obviously not going to take no for an answer.

Richie was in no shape to argue, he was seconds away from getting sick. “Okay, sure. Next flight.” With that, he hung up, and ran out to the fire escape.

***

“Rich, what the _fuck_ was that?!” Steve yelled after the two of them had retreated to Richie’s dressing room. “You completely bombed that show!” His face was so red, that Richie couldn’t help but imagine steam coming out of his ears. If he wasn’t feeling completely paralyzed with fear, he would’ve laughed. “You do realize that your entire career is on the line, _right_? What happened out there?”

Steve was talking a mile a minute, and Richie could barely process anything he was saying. Mike’s call was the only thing on his mind. “Look, I have to go away for a while,” Richie stated, not bothering to answer Steve’s questions. He didn’t think he could’ve given him answers even if he wanted to. “I got a call from a friend, and something’s going on. I have to go.” Richie was aware of how crazy he must’ve sounded. He wasn’t even sure why he was feeling such an overwhelming sense of urgency. He didn’t even remember the promise Mike had told him about, but he couldn’t go back on his word. “I have to go home.” Even saying that out loud sent a chill down Richie’s spine.

“You have shows coming up! Shows that you’re lucky to still have after tonight!”

“Cancel them,” Richie said. “Make up some reason if you have to. I don’t care.”

“You aren’t telling me anything!” Steve yelled, exasperated. He ran a hand through his hair nervously. “All I know is that your friend from Bumfuck, Massachusetts, who you’ve never even talked about until now, called you. You puked, and you’ve been acting weird ever since. What the fuck am I supposed to think here? Walk me through it, please.”

“It’s Bumfuck, Maine, actually.” Richie’s correction was met with a dead-eyed stare from Steve. “I can’t explain it right now, but I need to go. It’s just gonna be a few days, it’ll be like I was never gone.” Richie didn’t fully believe the words even as he spoke, but he wouldn’t admit that. “I promise you’ll be sick of me before you know it.”

Steve’s expression softened, and he looked at Richie with concern. “Is somebody blackmailing you, Rich? Is it drugs again? Because if it is-”

Richie scoffed, and rolled his eyes, mentally blocking out the rest of Steve’s sentence. He couldn’t hold it against him, though. Their relationship hadn’t been _strictly_ professional for years. Though the unprofessional aspect of their relationship was only physical. On Richie’s part at least. He wasn’t about to fall in love with his manager, but they could have fun a few times a week. “No. It’s nothing like that,” Richie tried to assure him. “My friend is having trouble with something, and I have to go help him for a few days. That’s it.”

Steve didn’t look convinced, but Richie didn’t give him a chance to argue. He pulled Steve into a kiss before turning to leave.

“We have to talk about this when you get back!” Steve called after him.

Richie raised his hand up dismissively as he walked out the door. _Maybe if I live long enough to see you again._

***

Richie sat on the edge of the bed in his hotel room, his hair soaking wet, and a towel wrapped around his waist. He’d arrived extremely late the night before, and hadn’t left his room since. He didn’t even know what he’d do before meeting Mike for dinner.

The Derry Townhouse was an old hotel, but it was the one that Mike had recommended. Vaguely, he wondered if anybody else he was supposed to meet was already at the hotel. _Eddie._ His heart had fluttered briefly when Mike had said Eddie’s name over the phone. Richie wasn’t a kid with a crush anymore, though. He told himself that he didn’t know anything about Eddie, and not to get his hopes up.

Richie got off the bed, and moved over to the old full body mirror. He ran his fingers along one of the old scars on his chest absentmindedly, and bit his bottom lip. It had been a long time since he’d even thought about his scars, and even longer since he’d felt self conscious about them. 

He didn’t know who his old friends were envisioning when they thought of him, but they wouldn’t be expecting _him_. Richie was sure of that much.


	2. Chapter 2

Richie sat in his rental car for a good fifteen minutes after pulling into the parking lot of the Chinese buffet Mike had made a reservation at. It would’ve been easy to just drive away. All he’d have to do was call Mike, wish him luck in whatever he was going to do, and then never think about Derry again. Or he didn’t have to call. He barely remembered any of the people Mike talked about. He could just quietly drive away, and pretend he never came back in the first place. It would be no skin off his back. Steve would have questions, Richie was sure of that. That was just an annoying part of having a sexual relationship with his manager. It was an annoying part of having Steve as a manager in general, when Richie thought about it.

It wasn’t long before Richie saw a red-haired woman standing in front of the door. She looked as unsure as Richie felt. “Bev?” Richie whispered. A smile spread across his face, though he didn’t know why just seeing her put him at ease in that way.

Reluctantly, Richie got out of the car. He started over to Bev, but shrunk back as another man approached her. At first, Richie wasn’t sure who the guy was, but Bev hugged him. So Richie could only assume he was somebody else who Mike had called back.

“Wow! You two look amazing… what the fuck happened to me?” Richie shrugged his shoulders awkwardly as the two broke off their hug to look at him. “It’s Richie. Not what you were expecting?” 

Recognition lit up Bev’s eyes, and she pulled him towards her. Richie felt Ben’s arms wrap around him, too. Richie let out a laugh, feeling comfortable for the first time since arriving in Derry.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone for now,” Richie said, breaking free of the hug. “I’m gonna scope out who else is here.”

***

Richie felt somewhat better as he stepped into the restaurant. His brief interaction with Bev and Ben hadn’t been awkward like he was afraid it would be. Though his nerves got the better of him again as the hostess brought him to the private room Mike had rented out. He stood outside the room for a minute, completely frozen. _What the fuck am I doing here?_ He wondered, not for the first time. He couldn’t bring himself to leave the restaurant, though. No matter how badly he wanted to just walk out the front door, it was as if something wasn’t letting him. He could almost hear his conscience yelling at him for even thinking about it. 

_Grow some balls, Tozier! You’ve survived this place once, you can do it again._

A hand on his shoulder made Richie whip around violently, his hands already balled into fists. Just in case he needed to throw a quick punch. Though he relaxed when he realized who he was standing nearly chest to chest with.

Stan laughed, and held his hands out innocently. “Fuck! Don’t knock me out before we even find out why we’re here, Trashmouth. I don’t want to go home with a black eye.” He joked, patting Richie’s shoulder. “Hey… you okay, man?”

Richie didn’t know exactly why he was so filled with emotion, seeing this man who’s existence he’d forgotten about for years. He could vaguely remember teasing Stan when they were kids, saying that he was secretly an old man pretending to be a kid. Though Richie couldn’t quite place it, something about Stan now seemed so much younger than he really was. Richie thought it was something about his eyes.

A memory hit Richie: he and Stan were sitting on the floor of Richie’s bedroom. They couldn’t have been older than twelve. Richie whispered something in Stan’s ear, and pulled back quickly, tears in his eyes. Stan sat still for a moment, before putting his hand on top of Richie’s. “I don’t care. You’re still my best friend.”

Richie blinked back the tears in his eyes when Stan waved his hand in front of his face, bringing him back to the current moment. “It’s nothing. Just happy to see you again, buddy.”

Stan looked genuinely surprised by Richie’s show of emotion, but he gave Richie a soft smile. “I’m happy to see you too, Rich,” he stated. “It’s been weird since I left Derry. Now that I’m thinking about it, everything about Derry feels like a dream,” he continued. “I remember living here… vaguely. I never remembered having friends here, though. I can’t even tell you how long I lived in Derry.”

Everything about Stan’s recollection was eerily familiar to Richie. That was almost exactly what his memory of his childhood was like. Nothingness. No matter how hard he tried to remember. _Oh God, what happened to us?_ “Do you remember anything about this promise Mike talked about?” Richie’s nerves surged again as he thought, for just a moment, that he remembered a flash of glowing yellow eyes. 

Stan’s brow furrowed as he thought over Richie’s question. “I remember being scared all of the time,” he answered after a few moments. “I can’t remember why.”

“Well… I guess we’re gonna find out why we’re here before the end of the night.” Richie gave Stan a slight smile. It was meant to be encouraging, but he doubted it came through that way.

***

The next few hours were a whirlwind to Richie. He was sitting at a table with six other people who he’d had no memories of less than a day before, but he was filled with such a sense of relief just being around them. They were his friends. Richie was certain of that. Maybe they were the only real friends he’d ever had. Sitting there with them, Richie thought he’d be okay with that.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m expecting the rating and warnings for this fic to change. I will make a warning in the A/N for any chapters that require it. I hope you’re enjoying this fic!


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